#That's what Sasusaku looks like to me btw

[moldy-flowers]

In my head Sakura weilds her axe like Diane from seven deadly sins weilds her Gideon

[tisslesu]

Art I made for my sssk/tbiz playlist (it's still not sorted and constantly getting updated)

(July 2021)

[moldy-flowers]

CAN MORE PEOPLE LOOK AT THIS AND APPRECIATE ALL THE LOVE THAT WENT INTO IT HOLY SHIT AHSHSHHS

I honestly feel like that Boruto totally destroyed Sakuras character development in a lot of ways. And what Sasuke did was so out of character for him. The only way I could see him doing it would be in some over complicated way of continuing his clan and paying for his crimes. So I feel like Sakura at first might fall for it, but then realize its a fantasy at least.

Characters from Naruto and Boruto

Music from Epic

Animatic by me!

[lqfiles]

NARUTO IS MY ROMAN EMPIRE !! unfortunately i am a diehard sasuke fan/defender (i have a type) ive finished both naruto and shippuden i just haven’t dabbled in boruto bc im a stickler for nostalgia and fan service (sasuke scenes) BUT story wise i enjoyed naruto very much its my favorite anime overall jjk is only my fav manga ANYWAY im rambling i think naruto is worth if annoying ass arcs are ur thing 😭 the pacing is really stupid in my opinion w multiple episode long fights and shit. the plot is really good though imo but that’s just because i enjoy stuff like atla w like cultural and elemental influences typa bs but it can get really confusing once you get to shippuden because it’s one big PYRAMID SCHEME ABOUT THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP😜 ANYWAY i think it’s at a point where naruto is like a classic in a way so it’s worth it and im anti dbz and one piece LMFAAAOOO if u look up naruto filler guides its easy to get through and we NEED more women watching naruto because im TIRED of these losers hating on sakura this entire anon was self indulgent i LOVE yapping about my interests THANK YOU FOR BRINGING UP NARUTO YES !! WATCH NARUTO !!! I LOVE UCHIHA SASUKE AND HARUNO SAKURA !!!

—🪼

OMGJDKFJ YOU WOULD GET ALONG WIRH MY OOMF she is a sakura SHOOTER and the sasusaku president fr 😭😭 but from i’m gathering it’s worth it and if it somewhat reminds you of avatar i might de dabble in omg i LOVEEE ATLA. naruto is such a classic anime tho i feel like its practically the FACE of anime which i’m sometimes gagged by like wow this really is our representation…. but i think whats only holding me back is how many episodes there are like i have a short attention span so this better be GOOD (which omg this reminds me of how tokyo ghoul let me down so bad that i LITERALLY had to drop i was so pissed but that’s a convo for another day.. FUCK SEASON 3 😑)

tbh i’m just trying to reconnect with my weeb roots i used to be such a weeb back in 2021-2022 and would stay up at night just watching animes lol WEEBLANDIA IS CALLING MY NAME AGAIN WAIT FOR MEEEE btw i love sakura i might not be in the naruto fandom but from what i heard she is hated there and my oomfs do nawt play about her WE LOVE THIS QUEEN NO MATTER WHAT!!!

[forumjutsu]

what you mean there was no different ending for sasusaku? I think naruto was a better pairing for both of them

I just think it was the most logical resolution.

I´m gonna try to explain why I assumed it without getting in the ship/romantic scenes (this blogger made an awesome analysis about the whole sasusaku thig, btw), since I undestand that´s kind of subjective.

At the start of the series we are presented a three-man squad formed by two boys and a girl. It was just obvious that there was going to be some romantic plot around them, specially when their (kind of) love triangle was setted up from the very beggining. Therefore, two of them were gonna end up together. Now, this is an early 2000s japanese manga, so (though it´s a shit) the boyxboy was not an option in my head.

As it was, Sakura was gonna be with either Naruto or Sasuke at the end of the series.

Starting from this premise, the easy thing is to ship the girl with the protagonist, Naruto, but there´s this other character, this other girl, Hinata, who has a big crush on him, even though he is hated by everyone. That crush had to be important for the plot in some way, because, if not, why even bother to put it there? It definetely was not for comedy releave. I mean, just think about the difference between Lee´s crush on Sakura´s beauty and Hinata´s feelings.

Anyway, we go through genin period with, I think we can all agree, more shipping moments between Sakura and Sasuke than between Sakura and Naruto. But, even if we pass throug it, the thing is that at the end of part one, Sakura is love-strucked, Naruto kind of stepping back and no other girl has interacted with Sasuke.

In part two I did thought that the dinamics could change, since Sasuke wasn´t in the picture and Sakura and Naruto did grew closer to one another. Now, the issues with this were that Hinata was still longing for Naruto´s affection and, most importantly, Sakura´s feelings towards his teammates had not changed. To make the narusaku a thing there had to be some click in her mind, but she never gave it a thought. I actually think Sakura loved Naruto more than Sasuke in her teens (that´s a highly personal opinion, of coruse), but she did it in a fraternal way. Well, she claimed she was still in love with Sasuke even when she was on her way to kill him.

As for Sasuke, him ending up alone was not in my bets either. This guy spent his whole freaking life (and the whole show) craving for his family. For him to be alone forever, was far too depressing. Even at his lowest point, I thought he would die (which was also too ilogical to become true) before having that kind of ending. It was just too cruel. However, if you don´t agree, it was also really weird to create this whole Uchiha super ultra hyped awesome power and have the line ended with Sasuke. The sharingan would be extint! Maybe it´s not objective, but, come on, the Uchiha clan had to be perservered.

Sasuke did not have romantic interaction with anyone, of course. And, to be honest, I think some people ship him with Karin because she was the only girl there (that´s really subjective, though, I don´t like Karin at all). He didn´t really make bonds with anyone, and the only time he showed some care for Team Taka was when they reminded him of Team 7. So, even if I overlook my personal likings, he had to be with someone who was close to him in his genin time (for thoose were the only legitimate bonds he had). Naruto was not an option for both homophobic and reproductive reasons, so, only Sakura was left.

So, yeah, that pretty much sums up why I always assumed Sasuke and Sakura would end up toghether! Anyway I get we all have different pov and the fact that I ship the two of them, had obviously helped me to get to this conclussions. Anyway these are 2D drawings, let´s just let people like whatever they want :)

How good they look once they get toghether though...

[alwayshaveneverholdd]

REWRITING NARUTO ROMANCES SO THEY DON'T SUCK

We all know that the romance in Naruto is trash and Kishimoto himself admitted to not knowing how to write female characters and getting embarrassed by romantic scenes…so let’s fix that shit

Part 2: SasuSaku

Okay so I’m gonna be going more in depth and talking about Sakura’s characterization, as well as the family dynamic between Sasuke Sakura and Sarada.

I didn’t do that for naruhina because I honestly truly could not give less of a fuck about boruto and himawari. They’re both gifted ninja children with little to no family struggles. “Meeeeh my dads the hokage blehhhhhh poor meeeee” stfu nobody feels sorry for you

ANYWAY

LETS START BY SHITTING ON ALL OF IT (AS I DO)

- Sasusaku in a nutshell

- Sakura: you’re so hot my teen hormones are making me think I’m in love with you!!!

- Sasuke:….y’all hear sumn?

- *fifteen years and a forehead poke later* Sakura: lol where’s my husband

- Lmfao I’m just kidding I am actually the HUGEST sasusaku shipper and I just FUCKING WISH kishimoto hired someone who could do romance or knew about women or something so not only Sakura could flourish but also the rest of the female characters who were mostly depicted as harmful female stereotypes: weak, overly emotional, superficial, do everything for boy

- I think that him saying he wanted Sakura to be a fan favorite but then made her such an asshole and so annoying at the beginning is like….what

- AND I GET IT kids with both parents d o n o t understand that not having both parents growing up doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a basket case (says me, the child of an only parent who was constantly pitied for it but is doing a lot more with my life than any of my friends who had both parents Lmfao)

- But why did he make her so…. “LOL NARUTO IS SOOOO FUCKING STUPID WHAT A LOSER FOR BEING AN ORPHAN” what the fuck who would actually have that attitude toward someone like that

- Her parents, though we don’t see much of them, seem like decent people? I’d like to think they wouldn’t raise such a judgmental kid

- I’ll fix that in the second half dw

- Okay also w h a t t h e f u c k I n g f u c k

- I hate that Ino and Sakura’s friendship was ruined by a boy, and that their rivalry was mostly about Sasuke…

- Kishimoto-sensei come on dude I love you but w h y

- I’ll admit girls do have a competitive nature with each other a lot

- BUT GUESS WHAT

- Most girls are in competition because of things like?? Low-self esteem and big egos, which young kids of all gender and gender identities have lmfao

- In my experience it’s rare that a boy is what breaks up a friendship (unless one friend “stole” the others boyfriend in which case that guy didn’t want to be with you anyway sister get over it)

- Also can we just talk about how in Shippuden every time sakura is like “I GOT THIS!” “ILL GET EM!” She gets fuckin destroyed

- So much for Sakura getting so much stronger during the blank period ???? What the fuck

- Sakura IS powerful and I wish she would’ve been given as much power as naruto and Sasuke on some level so she could hold her own against them like what the hell

- I’m jumping around a lot but first of all: fuck Sakura’s fake confession to naruto that was so immature and unnecessary and she is way too smart for that wtf

- Also fuck Sakura becoming a sub and offering to join Sasuke when she went to kill him

- We’re fixing all this fuckin shit

- Also pls the anime did sasusaku so dirty

- They took out all of sasukes blushes from the manga

- In the manga Sasuke blushed many times around/at the mention of Sakura

- And his FOOT WAS SHAKING WHEN SHE CONFESSED THE FINAL TIME

- btw let’s just take out all of Sakura’s fucking confessions just stop sis you’re embarrassing yourself we’re gonna rewrite this shit for you in a way that respects you okay

- Sarada looks nothing like Sakura and I’m pressed

- I’m tilted

- SHE LITERALLY LOOKS LIKE KARIN BRO HAVE YOU SEEN HER? Similar hairstyle, same glasses, honestly same face (it’s a cartoon they all look the same FUCK YOU she looks like Karin and you know exactly what I mean)

- They couldn’t have given her Sakura’s hair color or style??? At the least???? Or just different fucking glasses Jesus

- I hated that entire “is Karin my real mom” dilemma cry me a river

- Pls they could’ve created so many other conflicts that would’ve been way better

- Suigetsu is a fucking moron and ofc he would believe Sasuke and Karin got it on bc he has the IQ of a pistachio

- There was just…they could’ve reintroduced those characters in such a better way

- Also I’d like to see Sakura interact with Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin. Just Sakura interacting with and being friends with sasukes friends would help paint their relationship dynamic better

- And can we get into sasukes thoughts other than when we’re shown his itachi and massacre flashbacks for the 10847382th time

- Like during one of Sakura’s confessions maybe a sad look and a flash of team 7 in his mind bc he’s reminded of his bonds and how much he enjoyed his time just being a normal kid

- I’m gonna need more than an “I’m sorry for everything” and a forehead poke

- Sorry chief

- The least you can do is give us a fucking episode showing how their romance happened?

- That would be fucking hilarious

- Bc Sasuke clearly knows jack shit about romance, even now when they’re married with a kid

- “Sasuke…do you wanna date me?” “Why would I hit you with dates? Those have pits. Are you a masochist?” “What?” “What? I gotta go…help naruto with something…bye”

- Like lmfao

- Okay I think I’m good on the first half let’s move on to fixing shit

- FIRST AND FOREMOST

- Can we just….NOT ALL YOUNG GIRLS ARE DATING CRAZY AND ACT ALL PSYCHO

- Yes I’ve known people of all genders that are interested in dating very young, but not to the extent that is shown in Naruto with literally all the characters obsessed with Sasuke

- So we’re not gonna do that “fangirl pack follows Sasuke around” thing.

- I liked that Ino was the one who gave Sakura confidence and helped her believe in herself, so we’re keeping that

- But let’s not make Sakura become an Ino clone because pls they were so fucking SIMILAR in the first part

- And Sakura is not mean to Naruto just bc she likes Sasuke, let’s change that. Maybe Sakura was annoyed and felt like Naruto was deliberately trying to get in the way (which he was, and she did express these feelings) so how about she cONFRONT HIM

- just ducking ask him you pussy “why are you trying to get in the way of me building a friendship with sasuke”

- Communication! Healthy friendships! Y’all: You’re asking too much of 12 year olds

- Me: SHUT THE FUCK UP THIS IS MY PERFECT WORLD

- No more “IM GONNA GET THE FIRST KISS FROM SASUKE”

- Let’s have Sakura be less….like that.

- ANYWAY I think the subtle way that Sakura and Sasukes friendship developed was actually good, I don’t have many complaints there.

- Now when we get to him leaving the village….NO CONFESSIONS. Sakura will still ask him why he has to go, but instead of being stupid and saying “IM 12 AND IM IN LOVE WITH YOU BLEH YOUR PARENTS BEING MURDERED IS THE SAME FEELING I HAVE WHEN YOURE NOT HERE” don’t even go there dude

- Instead she will think to herself how her feelings for sasuke have grown from infatuation into truly caring for him. Maybe she even mentions that he’s different from what people think he is, try to remind him that she and Naruto and Kakashi are a team and like family.

- Ofc everything else would be the same but I think that if she had made points that way, him thanking her would hit harder

- NO asking Naruto to “bring sasuke back to me” he’s not yours dude wtf

- Instead Sakura would NOT CRY but still be upset and wish Naruto and the others farewell. She would still recognize her own shortcomings and train rly hard during the blank period.

- Now let’s skip ahead okay so can Sakura not get her ass beat so much in the second part like fucking really come on

- She will do damage to fuckin sasori and not rely 95% on granny chiho

- Also? Why the hell did she try to stop sasuke with her fist during their first reunion? Jesus

- So I think sasukes behavior should remain pretty much the same, it fits his tortured traumatized characterization.

- Now Sakura, I think she should have been way less dramatic about everything. No confessions to Naruto, having an actual good plan to kill sasuke other than with a poisoned kunai

- I’d like to think Sakura would be pretty powerful by now and could hold her own against sasuke. When he asked her to kill Karin to prove her loyalty, she should’ve known he was tricking her and just fucking went at him. Kakashi and Naruto would’ve intervened either way but now Sakura is using her abilities instead of almost getting killed by sasuke TWICE without even fighting back.

- I think Sakura shouldn’t have confronted Naruto at all before going to kill sasuke tbh

- Now onto to the war, I think by now Sakura did realize that Sasuke was fucked up, much too fucked up to return her feelings but I think she did love him at this point, if nothing just wanting to save him from himself, so I think that’s on par

- The real oh fuck comes during the war when they went at Kaguya

- SAKURA NEEDED TO DO MORE, AND SASUKE WOULDVE NOTICED HER MORE AND BEEN MORE IMPRESSED

- 100% keep the sasuke teleporting using sakuras jacket and then catching her before she passes out from low chakra that shit was nice and he just kept holding her too and that eye contact BITCH

- The way I’ve written this rewrite so far, I do think the last confession was appropriate. One for the whole show is good.

- Because this would be her first verbal confession it would be more dramatic in a good way and more impactful.

- Everything else would play out the same

- But when sasuke leaves to atone for his sins or whatever I’d like to see a private conversation between him and Sakura where he truly does apologize and maybe even spice it up, have him tell her to find someone that deserves her love

- It’ll leave her thinking and he still gives her the forehead poke and tells her to take care

- And they still get together and all that but I wanna see howwwwww

- ALSO SASUKE STOP BEING AN ABSENT FATHER CHALLENGE

- I think that whole thing of Sarada not recognizing her own father is pretty FUCKED UP and I know it creates conflict and all that and sasukes character whatever okay fine keep it whatever

- But Fuck that stupid mother Karin arc

- And show more sasusaku interactions

- Sasuke hangs out with Naruto more than his own wife man is it that hard to think Sasuke can be around more now

- I do really like how Sasuke and Sakura are both rly involved with Saradas training. Overall they’re a cute family. WHy tf does Kakashi give Sasuke parenting advice from Makeout Paradise tho like wtf MAJOR CREEPY also Kawaki and Sarada p cute together idk

- I’m tired I’m gonna take a nap peace

[elegiesforshiva]

hi! i hope this message finds you well :3 i just wanted to say thank you so much for posting your writing! i've read through all of your sasusaku fics starting with Ghosts and then and then A Blue Bathed Litany, then Reanimate and Tongue. i think you're an incredible writer and can't express how much i've enjoyed reading your writing and as someone who also writes here and there - how much seeing your characterization and the themes you decided to delve into inspires me to write!!!! - kae pt.1/?

just to echo what some other people have said about Ghosts, LOVE the way you've characterized sakura! AH! she finally gets the depth that she deserves through your story! and the way you've been looking at her/sasuke's relationship makes me think of conversations i've been having with peers/at work -about reformation and what it means to forgive and to teach/take care of someone who's done harm and let them back into the community. anywho, many a thought on that - kae pt.2/? also! i can't say how much i love the depiction of ino/sakura's friendship and the intimacy of it. there is something so powerful and often understated about feminine friendship and being able to see it told so beautifully and honestly with so much heart in your story is something i really enjoyed and connected with! i think and women are just so awesome in the way they look out for each other and the safety that they can provide for each other - kae pt.3/? anyway! i saw that you are still planning on writing it and are taking the time to flesh it out completely and i just want to say that i hope you are kind to yourself through the process and don't ever feel rushed!!!! i find that writing is such a personal journey and so much has happened in the past few years!!! i'm so glad to see that you plan on continuing it though and will patiently await on any kind of updates that you give! <3 <3 <3 - kae pt.4/? btw i also wanted to add that i've been reading through some of your responses to your asks here and there to get whatever i can for any Ghosts news LOL and wanted to also say that you seem like a super awesome, kind, and emotionally intelligent human and it takes a very special kind of person to write and the create the types of stories you do!!! also just wanted to ask - how are you doing!!! i hope your day/night is very kind to you!!! (i hope all my asks have come through hehe) - kae pt. 5/5 OOPS - SO SORRY. i think i probably read a different ask than one of the most recent ones you did. ANYWAY just wanna say - whether you write Ghosts again or don't - it's totally a-okay!! you take care of yourself first and foremost <3 <3 <3 - kae

Can’t even articulate how happy these asks have made me, or the amount of times I came back to them to feel the warmth of them again. These were so kind and thoughtful, idk how to thank you for them. I’m so sorry I took so long to respond, I try not to talk about this in my responses to asks, but sometimes it’s just so much to process this kind of praise because it’s such a stark contrast from the energies I receive on the daily—energies that made me write a narrative as dark as Ghosts to begin with. It can be a little shocking, and definitely a lot to digest, even though I’m not a stranger to how much people relate and enjoy Ghosts. It’s still very jarring. Definitely welcomed and I’m completely heartstruck by it!! but still I see it and I’m like “Oh God, Oh Fuck” lol. Thank you so much for giving me so much love. Thank you for reading fics, for checking in on this blog, for sending me all these messages. I’m JUST !!!!!!!!!!!!  🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺 💘 There’s so much you touch on in these asks, I’m so happy people engage so thoroughly with the fic because there’s a lot of subjects that fic and Kishimoto himself discusses in their narratives. Reform and Healing and Integration are so so complex... especially with a character like Sasuke. Systematically, he’s a victim, there’s no question about it. Intimately, in personal relationships like with Naruto and Sakura, he was abusive. And of course the former informs the latter for him but where do you go from there... the very topic I think is greatly mishandled in the real world, and I think Kishimoto does a total 180 in his manga where Naruto just like?? Beats people up and through the power of spirit they are suddenly fully capable of love and authentic growth and healing??? LOL. It’s so bizarre. I don’t have the answers but it’s a conversation to be had and thought on for sure. I’m so so soooo happy you mentioned Ino and Sakura!!! I think my queerness ended up coming out in a lot of unexpected ways in this fic, and their relationship is a part of it for sure, but I just completely agree with you that relationships between women are severely understated. I don’t know how obvious it is, but I fully intended on discussing misogyny in Ghosts, and Sakura and Ino, and also Sakura and her mom’s relationship was meant to really emphasize that. I know there’s low fandom interest in female characters and that their relationships together have even less, (understandably so, because ultimately this was written by cis men who do not have an iota of how women authentically experience themselves, experience the world, and it can be triggering just acknowledging these cardboard cutouts of how cis men see us sometimes...) but really, I couldn’t have written this fic without the pillar of Ino and Sakura’s relationship in place. So much of my own healing and growth has relied on women, and the queer community too. They’ve saved my life. Again and again. I know shonen authors like Kishimoto wouldn’t have a great understanding of marginalized identities like that considering their own social positioning, but man the presence and impact of these communities is very real. Thank you for offering me your patience and affirmations, you have no idea how much I miss writing. I think about it all the time, it drives me crazy lol. I love that you’re a writer too, you probably know what I mean when I say how intimate of a journey it is—how deep we dive to come out the other side with a story that speak back to us and give us our justice. I would kill for that sort of time and headspace again. I’m really hoping to get back there soon. If I can just get an apartment, and some quiet, I think I’ll be able to. There’s so much inside me begging to be let out these days. Regardless, I’ll always keep y’all posted and thank you for letting me know you’re fine either way. It’s reassuring the love I get isn’t conditional like that, I’m just glad you’ve enjoyed that fic, unfinished or not, as much as you have <3 I think this is the first time someone has explicitly asked how I am in a message like this, and god you are such a sweetheart for it. Thank you for thinking of me as more than just an occasional fanfic writer, that was such a warm gesture. I wish I could say I’m doing great but honestly my life is a fucking horror show and I feel like a turd on fire lmfao. I mean, that’s kind of most of our lives right now. I can’t speak for everyone but I don’t personally know people who are doing very good right now. I am with the disabled community, amongst other marginalized ones, and covid combined with the catastrophic political atmosphere has not been kind to us. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping it gets better though, both individually and nationally—and globally too, for that matter. I know international friends have been going through it. Thank you again for these sweet messages kae!!! I really hope you’re doing amazing and there’s a lot of love in your life at this moment, and if there’s not I hope it comes soon!! And I hope you’re as loving and gentle with yourself as you were with me in these asks too. Cheers to the wonders of writing and reading! Sending all my looove~~  💟 💟 💟

[notaswiftie13]

Delicate | SasuSaku Oneshot

https://www.wattpad.com/1175443248-delicate-sasusaku-oneshot-delicate

https://archiveofourown.org/works/36232756

"This ain't for the best. My reputation's never been worse, so you must like me for me." Sasuke whispers in Sakura's ear, "We can't make any promises now can we, babe?" Sakura's cheeks turn pink, Sasuke smirks. "But you can make me a drink."

heres a hot steamy sasusaku book.

listen to delicate by t-swift while reading this if you want.

its not good btw so ignore that...

i do not own naruto or delicate.

hope you enjoy!!

"This ain't for the best. My reputation's never been worse, so you must like me for me." Sasuke whispers in Sakura's ear, "We can't make any promises now can we, babe?" Sakura's cheeks turn pink, Sasuke smirks. "But you can make me a drink." 

~~~

Sasucakes🥰

Dive bar on the East Side, where you at?

Sakura's phone lights up on her nightstand in the black.

Sasucakes🥰

Come here, you can meet me in the back😏

Sakura gets up out of her bed. She rushes over to her closet to find her favourite pink dress which stops mid thigh. Sakura finds the dress and puts it on, she goes over to her jewellery box to find a gold hair clip that she puts in to keep her fringe from going into her eyes.

Sakura puts on black flats and gets her handbag then she goes to the front of her apartment. She opens the door to leave. Sakura walks out, closing the door and locking it up behind her. 

Sakura rushes to the dive bar to see a tall guy wearing dark jeans and some Nikes.

'look at you' Sakura thinks to herself. 'Oh, damn, never seen that colour blue' A blush lightly brushed her pale cheeks.

Saskue see's Sakura's blush and smirks. He walks up to her, lightly breathing in her ear before saying "Just think of the fun things we could do." Sakura's face turned the same shade as a tomato.

"Just because I like you." Sakura teased.

The 'friends' walked out of the bar to go to Sakura's apartment. When they got to Sakuras apartment. Sakura unlocks the door and they both walk in, but before Sakura could close the door, she could hear a voice from behind her.

"This ain't for the best. My reputation's never been worse, so you must like me for me." Sasuke whispers in Sakura's ear, "We can't make any promises now can we, babe?" Sakura's cheeks turn pink, Sasuke smirks. "But you can make me a drink." He said as he pinned her up against the wall.

~~~

Is it cool that I said all that?

"Sasuke-Kun~" Sakura moaned.

Is it chill that you're in my head?

"So, bla bla bla, stuff about flowers- HEY! Sakura, are you even listening?" Ino asked.

"Huh?" Sakura looked up at Ino in confusion.

"You care more about your boyfriend more than you care about me." Ino dramatically said.

"He's NOT my boyfriend!" Sakura snapped back.

"Oh, ok. Explain that." Ino pointed to Sakuras neck.

'Oh shit, I forgot about that.' Sakura thought as she unconsciously moved her hand up to her neck.

"Oh umm... The uh vacuum got me- yeah." Sakura lied.

"hmm." Ino smirked

'Cause I know that it's delicate.

~~~

Is it cool that I said all that?

"Sa. ku. ra," Sasuke groaned in her ear.

Is it too soon to do this yet?

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Sasuke asked the pink haired girl

"I'm sure." She replied.

'Cause I know that it's delicate

~~~

Sakura walks around her apartment muttering the same words over and over again, "Isn't it, isn't it, isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it, isn't it, isn't it? Isn't it delicate?"

"What do you mean by 'delicate'?" The floweriest asks her best friend.

"Oh, um. Nothing." The pinkette lied with a smile.

~~~

Sakura🌸

Third floor on the West Side, me and you

Sasuke jumped up out of his bed and ran too Sakuras, but before he locked up, Sasuke received another message. 

Sakura🌸

Handsome, you're a mansion with a view

Sasuke ran to Sakura's apartment and knocked. He opened the door to see the pinkette just wearing a towel. The Uchiha walking in closing the door behind him. He walked into the kitchen and hugged Sakura from behind. 

"Do the girls back home touch you like I do?" Sakura whispered in the Uchihas ear.

~~~

Long night with your hands up in my hair, echoes of your footsteps on the stairs. Sakura blushed at the thought of what happened the night before.

Sasuke tried to get up but stopped when he felt a hand grab his forearm.

"Stay here, honey, I don't want to share." Sakura whispered. Sasuke smirked at her.

'Cause I like you.

~~~

"This ain't for the best. My reputation's never been worse, so you must like me for me." Sasuke whispers in Sakura's ear.

Yeah, I want you.

"We can't make any promises now can we, babe?" Sakura's cheeks turn pink, Sasuke smirks. "But you can make me a drink." He said as he pinned her up against the wall.

~~~

Is it cool that I said all that?

"Stay here, honey, I don't want to share."

Is it chill that you're in my head?

The Uchiha walking in closing the door behind him. He walked into the kitchen and hugged Sakura from behind.

'Cause I know that it's delicate

~~~

Is it cool that I said all that?

"Just think of the fun things we could do."

Is it too soon to do this yet?

"We can't make any promises now can we, babe?" Sakura's cheeks turn pink, Sasuke smirks. "But you can make me a drink." He said as he pinned her up against the wall.

'Cause I know that it's delicate

~~~

Sasuke was writting in a notepad instead of listening to his 'friend' talking about all of the different types of ramen.

Isn't it, isn't it, isn't it?

Isn't it?

Isn't it, isn't it, isn't it?

Isn't it delicate?

"That one is like when the egg is- Teme, what are you writting?" The Uzumaki stopped talking about ramen for the first time.

"Nothing," Sasuke muttered.

~~~

'Sometimes I wonder; when you sleep, are you ever dreaming of me?' The Uchiha thought while he was watching the pinkette sleep.

~~~

'Sometimes when I look into your eyes, I pretend you're mine, all the damn time' Sakura thought while staring into Sasuke's eyes.

'Cause I like you

~~~

Is it cool that I said all that?

Come here, you can meet me in the back

Is it chill that you're in my head?

'Sometimes I wonder; when you sleep, are you ever dreaming of me?' The Uchiha thought while he was watching the pinkette sleep.

'Cause I know that it's delicate (Delicate)

~~~

Yeah, I want you

~~~

Is it cool that I said all that?

Third floor on the West Side, me and you

Is it too soon to do this yet?

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Sasuke asked the pink haired girl

"I'm sure." She replied.

'Cause I know that it's delicate (Delicate)

'Cause I like you

~~~

Is it cool that I said all that?

Is it chill that you're in my head?

'Cause I know that it's delicate

Isn't it delicate?

Yeah, I want you

~~~

Is it cool that I said all that?

Is it too soon to do this yet? 

'Cause I know that it's delicate

Isn't it delicate?

[fifi-uchiha]

Well... My former best friend -he's a guy and I never realized he wanted more than friendship- called me a slut because I write lemons lol

Even though I asked him not to read my ffs, he just started looking for them and read them.

Or more like he said I act 'all innocent, like a wanna be good girl' and I was like... No? I do not act innocent at all?

Bruh, I'm sarcastic, my jokes are sometimes over the top, I curse too much and I'm pretty confident. I'm just a virgin who never had a boyfriend, but that's not exactly something I can control. I'd love to have a boyfriend and besides, even when you have a boyfriend you can still be innocent? 😂

Having a sex life doesn't make you a slut bruh 😂

However, I don't give a shit what people think. I mean... Come on, basically everyone is watching porn and I'm more than sure he's doing it too. But hey, watching lesbians having sex as a Muslim - we're both Muslims btw - is totally fine but writing 'weird ass bondage-hentai', as he called it, is a shame? Can you be even more hypocritical?

Bruh, I'll write SasuSaku ffs and lemons as much as I want and if that makes me a slut... Well, no shits given.

I love writing and I'll keep doing that. It's funny that my female friends support me and love me the way I am whereas the only man who found out about it basically called me a whore. I really liked him but just because I wanted to keep my distance, he found a reason to freak out and insulted me. Lame ass move, however, I won't stop enjoying one of my favorite hobbies.

Reading and writing SasuSaku fanfics!

[maoam]

“Sasuke-is-straight” Anon this is for you, so funny and falling into heteronormative ideas and standards haha... Straight ain’t the default honey, just because Sasuke married a woman doesn’t mean that he is straight. In fact, no Naruto characters sexuality has ever been outright said, so for you to say Sasuke is straight is an assumption. For us to say Sasuke is gay is an assumption too but oh wow will you look at that! There’s a thing called Naruto? It’s an anime/manga I’m sure you’re familiar with it. You should give it a watch/read because Sasuke acts pretty gay. Of course you might not see it though because you’re blinded by heteronormativity and refuse to see any romantic interactions between dudes as anything beyond dudes being bros, but if you open your eyes juuust a little bit and let some of that hetero shit you have going on go, you’ll see that some of the “hetero” dudes like my guy Sasuke over here are actually shown to swing a little more to the left, if you know what I mean 😝💗. If you’re on here arguing with my pal maoam about why Sasuke isn’t gay then that’s for a reason babe. Why you on gay Sasuke tumblr when you fervently believe Sasuke to be straight? So silly anon, love you.

Here here, anon— give me 10 reasons besides the marriage on why you think Sasuke is straight (not bi, not pan, but straight as a pencil) and then I’ll consider believing you ✨. Simple request babe, don’t be shy 🙈. I’d like to point out that I’m not denying the sasusaku marriage btw, I’m not that blind hehe but uh. Sasuke does NOT treat her like she loves her 🤷‍♂️ ain’t that kind of sus? Pair that with all his gay moments and I dunno man. Please explain.

Avoiding women counts as heterosexual moments to many people it seems.

[olliya]

Readers‘ engagement on AO3

This time it will be less scientific, and more like me writing down my stream of consciousness. But the methodology was really straight-forward, so I think I can spare us the details, and I wanted to show you a detour I made trying to untangle the reasons behind certain fandom reactions. Join me for a trip?

AO3 is rather infamous for its lack of readers engagement (see all the initiatives supporting the commenting: @ao3commentoftheday​, @longlivefeedback​), at least among the fics and writers I am in contact with (and I do pay attention to the stats, you can believe me 😉 ). Nevertheless, some people feel very comfortable on this platform and for quite some time already I wondered what leads to such diametrically different writers’ experiences.

I started with analyzing Comments for Sakura’s ships. Since I did the same analysis for four Sakura’s ships: SasuSaku, NaruSaku, KakaSaku and MadaSaku on ff.net, we can have a direct comparison, especially as the time scope of existence Pairing Option and AO3 as a platform are very similar, and fic numbers are also comparable.

Very briefly: I sorted the fics into the following bins: >500 Comments, 201-500 Comments, 101-200 Comments, 51-100 Comments, 21-50 Comments, 11-20 Comments, 6-10 Comments, 2-5 Comments, 1 Comment, 0 Comments. All data are presented in percentage to allow for comparisons between the ships.

So let’s dive in:

On the first glance the graphs look peculiar: there is always sort of a double maximum for “0 Comments” and “2-5 Comments” divided by a minimum for “1 Comment”. But once we remember that the Comments on AO3 include also author’s responses the situation becomes clear: the majority of fics have 2 comments: namely 1 real Comment from a reader and one answer from the author.

To put this hypothesis into a test I checked how many fics have 2 Comments, and it is 316 out of 839 of SasuSaku fics in “2-5 Comments” bin, 84 out of 204 fics for NaruSaku and 104 out of 315 fic for KakaSaku – which gives always ca. one third of comments in the “2-5 Comments” bin.

At that point I deliberated for a while whether I should modify my bins to include “2 Comments” as a separate category, but I opted out of it for the sake of (future) comparisons with ff.net (and because I think by bins are very good, thank you).

As a side note: on the first 4 graphs we can also see that MadaSaku has a different distribution than all the other ships, but it is worth mentioning that it was also an outlier on ff.net. We will come to this later.

Peculiarity of distribution aside – the feedback on 3 main Sakura’s ships is consistently miserable. But, I reasoned, AO3 is famously M/M oriented so maybe the F/M audience is simply not there. Therefore, I set off to check all the Naruto ships in the order of their popularity, which btw is the following:

So, working down the list we get this:

And, WTF Naruto fandom? Most of the fics for hugely popular, established ships have no comments??!! Or one comment and an answer from the writer??!!

That was a really disappointing exercise…

Until I found that:

MadaTobi was the first ship that displayed a different pattern of readers interactions! It has a maximum in “21-50 Comments” per fic which is perfectly decent and corresponds well with the values for the ships I examined before on ff.net.

Encouraged by this discovery I dug further: (And tbh for a moment I thought I have here a “Madara-effect”, since both MadaTobi and MadaSaku displayed encouraging results 😉 )

But Madara-effect was not the case (HashiMada displays the same distribution as all the other ships) and further data were even more disappointing. (Let me repeat myself: WTF, Naruto fandom?!)

Until I found another instance of good readers’ participation:

KakaGai! So, at that point we had three ships that were behaving differently than the norm: MadaTobi, KakaGai and MadaSaku.

I looked further to see if I can find more examples of fandom positivity, but, spoiler alert – No. For the sake of appearances lets look at the data though. GaaLee is sort of a borderline case, so let’s flag it as “tentative” for now.

So, what could be the reason for such a drastically different behavior of distinctive pockets of the fandom? Over the course of last year, I was observing how MadaTobi was rapidly gaining popularity, so that hinted me to follow this line of reasoning.

For each ship, I broke down the fics numbers into years when they were published. I ignored all the fics published in 2020 (because the year has only started and including those data would skew the image). To be able to compare the ships (which vary widely in term of fic numbers) I calculated the percentages of fics published in each year. I.e if a ship had 100 fics published until December 2019 and 30 of them were published in 2019, then 2019 had 30% of all published fics. It was at that point irrelevant how many fics were published in 2020, they weren’t counted either the way. I included only data from 2011 on, because earlier ones are very fuzzy due to back-dating customs that were in fashion at that time (for explanations see here).

Let’s look at the data. Tadaaa!!!

Isn’t it absolutely beautiful?! (yes, I know!) Does it look like a tangle of knitting yarn? (yes, I know that as well!)

So, let me break it down for you:

See that, that general trend? This is the growth curve that most of the ships follow – pretty linear, with maybe a bit of acceleration in 2019.

Now let’s focus on outliers: (3 most popular ships: SasuNaru, KakaIru and SasuSaku are included for reference – they illustrate the general trend pretty well).

The ships that grew more than 30% in 2019 are: SasuHina, MadaTobi, GaaLee, KakaObi, HashiMada, KakaGai, MadaSaku and InoSaku. So, among those eight, 4 (3 obvious, and 1 tentative) are the ones which showed outstanding readers’ engagement!

 So, are newer, more energetic parts of fandom also the ones with best readers’ engagement? That would be a very optimistic message… But what about four ships that grew tremendously, but still show very poor readers behavior?

SasuHina is an easy case. If there exist a ship that has a captain, then it is this one. And the captain is @365daysofsasuhina​ who contributed staggering 438 fics (out of total of 966) to SasuHina! (Seriously, a round of standing ovation, because this is amount of dedication, work and talent that we can all only dream about. Talking about being a change you want to see!). And 90% of that contribution was done exactly in 2019, which explains the growth spurt of the ship. Sadly though, the audience response didn't keep up with the supply of new fics, therefore great many of them remain with very few comments.

So what about the remaining ones: KakaObi, HashiMadara and InoSaku?

Scrolling through the fic lists I noticed that great many of KakaObi fics are written in Chinese, so I decided to look into it deeper.

I analyzed the percentages of Chinese fics for all the examined ships (and percentages of English ones, just in case there was a ship with overrepresentation of some other language):

And we can see that both KakaObi and HashiMada have a very strong presence of the Chinese fics!

At that point I thought I have it, and proceeded to look at the distribution of Comments for Chinese KakaObi and HashiMada fics. And indeed, the reader’s engagement is sadly, almost nonexistent (165 out of 182 HashiMada fics and 478 out of 630 KakaObi fics have no comments at all). The reasons for that may be multiple; one that come to my mind is that the Chinese readers are still to follow their writers to AO3, or that the fics published recently are in reality not new (which for sure they are not, given the sheer amount of them) and received already their share of feedback on other platforms.

But, even if one subtracts the Chinese fics from the overall fics, the distribution remains the same! ☹ KakaObi and HashiMada still display the standard Comment distribution, despite having grown 45% and 41% in the last year!

It looks a bit better, but still follows standard, not very flattering trend of most of other ships.

So, then I thought that maybe if I subtract the Chinese fics the sudden growth in 2019 will disappear?

The answer is unfortunately, no. The growth spurt is still there, language independent.

So, at this point I don’t know... I am convinced that there is some effect coming from the influx of Chinese fics, but I cannot put my finger on it. (It is also a beautiful example of how correlation does not equal causation.) I also have no explanation for InoSaku behavior…

  Nevertheless, I think it is possible to draw some conclusions, and those conclusions are of vital importance for the health of fandom as it is currently on the move from ff.net to AO3. And I would hate to see the good habits that are in place among ff.net readers getting lost during this move!

It seems that the readers response is better in the pockets of fandom that experience rapid growth, which in itself is very positive news. But one would think that the entirety of Naruto fandom is experiencing such growth (as the fandom is moving to AO3, remember…?). Unfortunately, it isn’t the case.

There can be yet another factor in play: namely the question if the ship is well represented on ff.net, and most of the ships are. Let’s take a final look at our three outliers: MadaTobi, KakaGai and MadaSaku.

Quick look into ff.net (by quick look I mean: sum of two main Ship Names plus Pairing Option minus fics that were double-tagged) shows that there are 174 KakaGai fics, 132 MadaTobi fics and 230 MadaSaku fics (my carefully calculated MadaSaku fic number was 232 in December 2019, so now I believe this number will be slightly higher).

MadaTobi and KakaGai are definitely underrepresented on ff.net (though MadaSaku is not). Therefore, new fics are not being published on ff.net in parallel to AO3, but rather on AO3 exclusively. It is a speculation only, but maybe if readers are given a choice between commenting on ff.net and on AO3, they are choosing the older platform.  That would imply that the authors who make a complete move can still count on feedback, as with absence of ff.net-uploaded fics the readers would have only one place to comment on. At least that’s my hope…

And finally, dear Naruto fandom – step it up. Those numbers are a shame, and I know that people can do better than this.

[ariannjs]

ENGAWA | A SasuSaku FanFic (One Shot)

The air was crisp around them, and the sky a canvas of purple and pink tints. Two pairs of eyes remained fixed on the painted sky as the husband and wife exchanged hushed conversations, whiling away the remaining hours of the day.

It was rare for them to be seated like this during their travels, at ease in each other's arms on the engawa of a small house lent to them by a family they have helped in Ame. So as best as they could, they maximized the opportunity to rest, not as the neo-sannins of the shinobi world, but simply as Sasuke and Sakura.

“This is going to be my first fall outside of Konoha, Anata," Sakura said while adjusting her head against Sasuke's chest. "I didn’t expect it could be this cold, considering summer is just about to end."

Sasuke stared at his wife's form as his lone hand played with a few strands of her hair. Her back was against him so he couldn't see the expression on her face, but he simply hoped that it reflected content.

His eyes observed the courtyard in front of the engawa – vast, enchanting, homey – something that they wouldn't have as long as they were traveling on foot.

He wondered if Sakura yearned for dusks like this compared to continuously trailing across forests and mountains before the sun sets. He wondered if his wife dreamt of having a new home – a physical one – instead of camping outside and renting an inn from time to time. And he wondered if she had realized that he has taken away too much from her when he asked her to accompany him on his journey, causing her to abandon so many things that could've been hers.

He looked at her again, moving his arm to envelope her waist. He sighed. "Do you regret this?"

"Regret what?" Sakura placed her hand above his with her thumb moving in circular motions above his scarred knuckles.

Her husband remained silent.

Sakura turned to face him then. And as expected, there was a scowl on her face for she already knew where his question was coming from. "Sasuke-kun, if you think I regret being with my childhood crush turned into the love of my life every single day, then you aren't the prodigy they were describing you to be."

"Hn." With his lips curving upwards, he tapped her forehead until her frown was replaced with a grin.

"You know, you have to stop thinking as if I'm suffering just because we're not living the normal life any woman would want to have with her husband. I'm fine. We're fine this way, Anata."

"You deserve so much more, though. Yet I couldn't give you more."

His wife turned completely this time, lacing her arms around his torso and burying her face in the crook of his neck. "But you gave yourself to me, Sasuke-kun. That in itself is more than enough."

The wind breezed against their skin and allowed them to further enjoy the embrace of the early evening. Sasuke’s gaze turned to the sky once more, thanking the Heavens for giving him someone whose love for him is immeasurable, despite all that he was and all that he is. 

His thoughts brought him to that moonlit night he wanted to completely forget – the night that he left her small frame on a bench and her strong heart into pieces. It was clear as day when Sakura said that she would feel alone without him even with her family and friends around her. She even promised that she won’t let him regret being with her, because everyday would be a joy as long as they’re by each other’s side.

Sasuke fully understood the truth of those words now. After all, they both knew the pain of being away from each other, and now, they already experienced the joy of being together – not just as teammates, but also as husband and wife.

He tightened his arm around his wife while feeling her breath against his neck, thinking that she was already asleep.

However, she slightly startled him when she spoke again, “I think there’s nothing better than the other thing you gave to me though.”

“The other thing?” He glanced at her form, confusion written all over her face. 

Instead of getting a verbal response, Sakura only nuzzled his neck as her hand moved his and placed it gently on her stomach. “This,” she said softly, making Sasuke feel her smile against his neck.

Sasuke Uchiha was an esteemed prodigy of his generation, but at that exact moment, he seemed to have lost all the vocabulary that he knew while his eyes remained fixed on his and his wife’s hands.

At the silence, Sakura tilted her head to get a view of her husband’s face. “A-anata? Aren’t you–” Yet she was astonished with what she saw.

She has witnessed Sasuke’s tears on so many nights in the early months of their travels, ones that were due to anguish, fears, and past traumas that frequently visited him amidst his sleep. When they finally got married, she noticed how these tears slowly stopped manifesting.

Hence, she was surprised to see them again now, especially because she knew that these tears had nothing to do with anguish anymore.

“Hey,” she muttered with her other hand moving to his cheek to wipe away a stray tear with her thumb. “This is something that we made together, Sasuke-kun. So whenever thoughts that I’m not satisfied with the life that we have now still enter your mind, just think of this wonderful gift.”

Sasuke was still frozen in place as if he wasn’t done processing everything yet. And then his hand shakily stroked his wife’s stomach, realizing that indeed, this tiny bump wasn’t here a few weeks back. Glistening Rinnegan and Sharingan-activated eyes met Sakura’s, and albeit he still couldn’t find the right words to say in situations like this, he uttered, “You know what I feel for you, right?”

With a smile, Sakura gently nodded, releasing a tear of her own. The next thing she knew, Sasuke closed the distance between them and meshed his lips with hers, making her feel every bit of love and joy in his heart that he doesn’t often verbalize. Their hands were still atop her stomach until they pulled away.

Then, with heaving breaths and touching foreheads, Sasuke told his wife, “I’m glad it’s you, Sakura. Thank you.”

o - o - o

August 2020 © AriannJS

o - o - o

Hiii guys! How are you all? :) We’ve been under quarantine in the Philippines for 5 months now and it’s just really weird having to face this new normalcy for a long time. I hope you are all safe and healthy, and that somehow, my works bring a smile to your faces during this difficult time.

Please check out my newly posted works on AO3 & FF: SasuSaku x Ben&Ben Series and Midnight Figments (English Snippets). And for my Filipino SS moots, check out my Tagalog works: Panliligaw ni Sasuke and Iibig Lang Kapag Handa Na (Tagalog one-shots). I haven’t really taken the time to post my recent works here on Tumblr but I was finally able to compile and upload them on AO3 and FF.

BTW, I am regularly posting SasuSaku snippets on Twitter before I compile and post them here, so if you want to see them first on the bird platform, you guys could follow me on @CoffeeAndSS (SS fan acct) and @AriannJS (main).

Please don’t hesitate to give me a boost through your reviews! I’d highly appreciate it! :) And if you want to support me further, please consider buying me some coffee on my ko-fi page! Any amount would help especially with our situation these days. :D Thank you and God bless!

Much love!

- A

[laine-o]

who are some artists u take inspiration from / are some of ur inspirations? love ur art btw :)

Wow I’m so sorry it took me awhile to get back to you anon! This was a hard one. I haven’t thought of my inspirations lately since they have changed a bit. I tried to keep these relevant more to my anime art since that’s what I’m more known for, but some are influences on more of my original art that I hope someday I’ll feel brave enough to share with you all.

From left to right, top to bottom.

CLAMP (Magic Knight Rayearth) - they were the reason I started drawing manga/anime artwork at all back in early 2000′s for me. The only “shoujo” artists on this list, I was really taken by the eyes they drew at the time and it still can be seen a little bit today, though I’ve really tried to steer myself away from the large pointed eyes with thick lashes and elongated bodies that plagued my art for a long time. I’ll always love their compositions, use of color and just how they use marker.

Yusuke Murata (Street Fighter fan art) - known for Eyeshield21 and One Punch-Man. This man can draw anything. His sense of anatomy, foreshortening and movement is breathtaking. I love the lighting and rendering as well. He also has a knack for creating really original faces and he doesn’t have the “same-face” syndrome problem. Just top-notch. I don’t aim to be as shonen in style as him, but I hope to start being able to add more dynamic poses into my work.

Kyohiko Azuma (Yotsubato!) - known for Azumanga Daioh and Yotsubato! I really love the comedy and slice of life genres lately. I love softer styles and I really adore the more simplistic approach he has to his character design that really allows the slice of life genre to shine through his art. Despite the simplicity, it still is very anatomically technical. It’s simple, but warm and effective and very soft. His skill in backgrounds as well is phenomenal. I think it’s a whole atmosphere he creates and the story he tells in his illustrations that I would love to apply to my own work if I can. I also related a lot to an interview where he stated he struggles blending little Yotsuba into the world he created because she’s so different stylistically from all the characters, so it’s a lot of fun and helpful to see how he accomplishes this throughout the manga and the panels.

Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto) - of course one of my biggest influences due to all the SasuSaku I draw. I think his style is very effective. It’s also I think more on the simpler side actually (if you compare it to CLAMP and Murata’s). But it’s so dynamic and full of strong composition and memorable character designs. I really appreciate how by his influence, I never really stopped drawing thanks to the characters, Sasuke and Sakura, that he created that had such an impact on me.

Xia Da (Song of the Long March AKA Choukakou) - This one is a manhua artist. Her inking and watercolor artwork is absolutely phenomenal. Definitely someone I look up to when I’m inking my own pieces, I would love to be at her level of skill someday. Primarily an inspo for inking.

Kamome Shirahama (Atelier of Witch Hat) - another artist with phenomenal inking skills that I really admire. She’s also really good at drawing children! But I definitely believe she can draw anything, the fact that she has crossed the barrier to illustrate comic covers for both DC and Marvel is just incredible to me and a testament to how much skill she possesses. Primarily an inspo for inking.

Kozue Amano (Aria) - Known for Aqua, Aria, and Amanchu (lots of A’s!). Her ability to design precious soft characters, gorgeous scenery, and write a beautiful and gentle slice of life fantasy tale has always made her one of my absolute favorites. I absolutely love how she colors her works.

Adachitoka (Noragami) - this is a team who does characters and background art. It’s not a secret that I love watercolor. I also love the movement and action and fighting scenes from this manga. The fact that this team is female and broke through with a popular shonen series is simply amazing. I hope to be as good as they are in drawing figures and in watercolor someday.

James Gurney (Dinotopia) - the master of creating fantasy worlds and making it look like it EXISTS with his painting skills. His “Color and Light” book is an absolute staple (I have it always ready as reference) and it’s a must if you want to give your lighting that more realistic feel. I think my love of lighting really came from growing up with the Dinotopia series. He is always constantly sharing his wisdom as well on his website and twitter and just an amazing and inspiring person for generations of artists.

Makoto Shinkai (Kimi no Na Wa) - This movie’s aesthetics (especially the lush backgrounds), surrealism, and existentialism really spoke to me. I adore the starry skies and heavens and clouds. Screencaps of his movies fill my phone as a quick reference whenever I’m rendering some complex lighting or trying to create some sort of composition with the sky.

Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki (Kiki’s Delivery Service) - nothing really needs to be said especially given my love for the details in all the movies, the fantastic scenes involving flying in the sky, the gorgeous backgrounds, and the delicious food. Always a good choice to use as a reference for anything with nature or even cluttered cozy houses and rooms and greenhouses. It’s still a desire to delve more into world building for me and I’ll be using these movies for reference. I also keep tons of their artwork in my phone as reference.

Satoru Takizawa (Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild) - Known for his work with Twilight Princess and Breath of the wild. You know where I’m going with this - he is the MASTER of ambient lighting. I love his rough and loose painting style that I wish I could achieve someday, but I still have a tendency to over-render. A great resource for learning how to world-build and for concept art.

Andrew Loomis - anatomy and figure drawing master. At the end of this list, but not the least important by a long shot. His book I think is not the most beginner friendly in terms of seeing basic shapes and breaking down the form (I think his construction is still more on the complex side), but it’s a good place to start and keep grinding until it “makes sense.” It took me years, but once it started clicking, I have him to thank for it because my anatomy was an absolute mess because of my background of starting from CLAMP’s art style. Buy his book and make it your bible. Attend figure drawing classes. If you want to illustrate people no matter how simple, you must make studying anatomy a part of your process.

Lastly - some original artists to check out who I like the inking, watercolor skills, and concepts of that closely align with my interests for my own original art.

meyoco - twitter, instagram

maruti_bitamin - twitter, instagram, tumblr

Qinniart - twitter, instagram

Some mangaka honorable mentions -

Takeshi Obata (Death Note, Bakuman)

Kaoru Mori (Emma, Otoyomegatari)

Satsuki Yoshino (Barakamon)

This was super long, I apologize, but it’s something I’m passionate about. I love art to pieces. I think a lot of what I admire is very technical - anatomy and lighting. I think my influences also reflect my aim to be more proficient at watercolor and inking. And lastly, world-building, fantasy/cosmos, and background art. I think a lot of what I really love though, is color and lighting and that’s found within any of these artists. :)

Thanks for the question anon! You allowed me to geek out on art for about an hour while I wrote this out.

[obiwon-shenobi]

I write btw

This goes out to my SasuSaku fans

Paring: SasuSaku

Genre: supernatural

Rating: none yet but strong language/no cursing tho

Words: 1662

Chapters: 🏃🏾🏃🏾🏃🏾

“There once was a queen so powerful they called her ‘God slayer.’ The ones closest to her knew better than to call her that, to them she was ‘The One Who Swallowed The Daystar.’ Her enemies only knew cool steel pressed to their hot necks and bolden bloody eyes willing death to take them to hell’s gate. A champion worshiped among mortals, gossip to the heavens, a beauty feared nonetheless. She who wrestled god and won. Even she had her Achilles.

Mortals. The starts and ends of many wars, devastators of great lands. The ones like The Queen insisted the humans were impure, unjust beings, they were to be kept at the base of the mountain, never to gaze upon those specially gifted. Lower life forms. Cattle moo loudly, but they are still cattle. And yet…

The moment their eyes met that fateful day, god herself could not separate her from him. She lavished him with gifts, spun precious compliments, bathed him in sunlight. She let him drink from her, birthing him in powers unknown to his human soul. Of all the gifts he cherished his swords most. Kusanagi, a valiant, vivid bronze broadsword created in the image of Valor. Mars, a sword unlike any found on Earth created in the image of God. Excalibur, a long sword of steel and water, the image of Balance etched into the gold handle. And his most treasured of all: Damokles, said to be Mars’ complete foil. A sword never used, the blade unknown, powers yet to be released. Each sword had a purpose— Mars’ protected the realm of the specially gifted, Kusanagi oversaw the human, Excalibur brought both to harmony. The Mortal King once inquired of Demokles, why he had never seen the blade, why it stays wrapped in silk cloth untouched when it’s his? A king cannot wield a sword who’s powers lay unknown.

‘Damokles, my love. Is what Mars is for you to me. The only way to kill a God is this one sword. Forged deep in a cavern volcano, pressed with my very own blood, you my dear, hold the power to Kill a Mage.’

The specially gifted took up arms at the Mortal King, cattle are still cattle and cows do not belong in the palace. They devised a plan. On the fourth night of October, just before the rising crimson moon, a spell was to be placed on the Mortal King. In a week, he would carry out a task most heinous. On the forty-sixth year of her birth, The Queen would meet her end, and The Mortal King would be the culprit, Demokles his damning weapon. Upon waking from his haze, overcome with grief, the Mortal King hid away his three precious swords (The Queen and Demokles being stolen in the fray) and withered to ash, carried east by the Wind.”

A slew of hands shoot up, eager round faces bouncing in place, all curious, all perplexed. The most intriguing is a blond boy, a hybrid fox boy, who’s stark incisors draw blood from the left corner of his mouth.

A soft sigh leaves the teacher, the talented mage he is, Iruka never had all the answers to Naruto’s ten thousand questions. Every field trip, every lesson, even during breaks, the boy always had stars of wonder in his azure eyes. “Yes, Naruto?”

“So if the Mages were born from swallowing a daystar, whatever that is, why was she called the ‘God Slayer’ and ‘She Who Wrestled God?’ And what exactly is a ‘daystar’ and why don’t we have to swallow them, and—“ if it weren’t for the breath he had to take, Naruto would have surely asked questions the entire class had.

“They don’t know where Mages come from, actually.” Sasuke, a boy with little magic infinitive, mutters. Although his starless irises bear the mark of unimpressed, Naruto and Sasuke were never far from one another. Sasuke may even call him his best friend if they’re alone. “Pay attention during lessons.”

“Then what’s a daystar, Sasuke? Huh?” Iruka sighs again. “See even you don’t know, don’t interrupt Sensei like that.”

“Thank you, Naruto. And Sasuke.” They carry on further into the exhibition, a timeline of Mages from as early as 300 b.c, eroded and tattered memories of the past. “The Daystar theory is,” Iruka stops in front of an illustration of the day sky over the Hokage Castle, a bright star sits just above the highest tower. “There was a star so bright you could see it even when the sun was shining, or it was raining, The Queen one day observed it fall from the heavens. She then picked up the star and swallowed it, gaining powers from God.” The class moves to the next picture, a man of gold and a woman more beautiful than they’ve ever seen in a crater. “The God theory comes from the same origin, but rather than a star, it’s a God, and this God is a god of war. He challenges The Queen, and when she wins, he gifts her her powers. The Queen then in turn blesses that power onto her subjects. And that’s where we think Mages come from.” The class gives a resounding ‘Ah’. “We don’t have to swallow stars or fight gods, our ancestors did that for us.”

Another hand goes up, another hybrid boy, a snow breed, “if the swords are hidden, then how can we and humans live in peace?”

“Preceptive, Kiba. We have a treaty and due process in place for that, and...” Iruka leads them to another room, this room huge but empty, only one artifact lay on display, one wrapped in blue silk cloth. “The only sword to ever be recovered was Damokles.” The class erupts, angry shouts and chaos descends over the twelve-year-olds as a few cry they don’t want to die. “Ah, no, children! No I didn’t mean to frighten you, please.” Some stressed into changing forms, others magic exploding like dynamite in their pockets, a few crying to go home. Iruka knew it was futile, he’d have to let them calm down on their own, this wasn’t the first class to have a meltdown over Damokles’ existence, hence the barren room.

What Iruka did notice, however, was how none of the panicking kids were Sasuke or Naruto, who were standing closer to the sword now, leaning towards it. They’re speaking, but whatever it is goes lost to the noise. Sasuke looks more invested in the swathed blade than his friend's words, it’s only when he reaches out for it does the teacher strode over. “Uchiha Sasuke.” Both boys jump, the room settles down, a few scattered whimpers can still be heard. “I know it’s fascinating but you can’t touch the artefacts.”

“But Sensei, it told me to.” Everyone is thrown immediately back into tears and oblivion. The only human in their class can talk to a demon sword, they wailed. “Well not like that you guys! It just… beckoned me to touch it.” That did so little to quell his classmates, Sasuke’s shoulders sag in defeat.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Naruto admits when Iruka’s raised eyebrow and honey glare meet him. “But Sasuke isn’t a liar.” A determined face washes over the blond, throwing his right arm over his friend in comfort. “No harm in touching and nothing happening!”

Ino, another blonde but an elemental mage, shudders. “Or he touches it and we all die!” Hinata, another elemental shrieks.

“Come now kids please. Sasuke won’t touch the sword, we aren’t going to die, they aren’t even sure this is the actual sword Damokles. It was found while excavating under Hokage Mountain, so they suspect it’s The God Slayer Blade, but there’s no evidence.”

“Has anyone tested it out?” Choji, a skilled kitchen witch, is peeking from behind Ino, who is hidden behind Shikamaru, a telekinetic. “Like on a Mage?”

“Well no.” Iruka leads the class to the hieroglyphs on the wall. “To ensure fairness, Damokles could only be wielded by The Mortal King and his heir, but because they had no children, there’s no one alive who can wield any of the four swords if real. So no, Sasuke isn’t going to kill us if he touches it.” Although quelled, this field trip ensured Sasuke’s life was very hard up till graduation. In the real world no one cares if you’re human, Mages, hybrids, and spirits alike congregate harmoniously in Konohana, and after finding that out, Sasuke lived his life quietly running a bar at twenty-five.

School might’ve been hell, but the real world still had Naruto in it, even Kiba had warmed up to him, often the pair coming by for a drink. Naruto does coaching at the college, Kiba an outdoor guide of some sort, both very welcomed patrons.

Occasionally they joke on the day Sasuke almost murdered his classmates, Sasuke not finding it to be such a sore spot, but one of his most powerful moments. No one fears humans, especially not Mages, hybrids are more enamoured than intimidated, and spirits find joy in their inconveniences. Sasuke still insists he heard the sword, but whenever they insist on going back to the museum, he’s first to deny. That one day would be enough.

~~~

He stabbed her… in the chest. With a sword she had gifted to him from her own blood she bore a blade only for he who stole her life? Her head was reeling, this place— what was it again? Not heaven, absolutely not hell. The weather is nice and it’s bright, the stream she floats on has carried her for centuries. She had an inkling, something terrible happened in her life, something truly awful brought her here. And now she knew. The blood still pours from the closed sore, she’d have vengeance, on him, on the Mages, on the Earth. All those who betrayed her will meet their end in time, for now she drifts on the endless stream.

So you can find me here

And here

[pain-somnia]

I saw a really funny screenshot and had to write something for sasusaku ‘cause I fucking die.

Here’s a link to the post I found it on. It’s super short, just a drabble and meant to be funny but I hope you like it lol

“I Would Break You”

He hadn’t meant to say it. The words were out of his mouth before he could process them in his mind.

Suigetsu was holding his stomach, not even bothering to hide his amusement as he laughed at Sasuke’s expense. He had tried choking back on it but it burst out of him when the blonde friend of the pink haired girl slipped Sasuke a piece of paper and winked at him telling him that he would need it.

I can’t believe I fucking said that. And while in uniform.

Running his hand down his face, Sasuke sighed, attempting to compose himself. Sasuke peeked at the slip of paper and noticed a neat row of ten digits and “her name is Sakura btw.”

“Let’s go,” Sasuke grumbled heading to his patrol car. Suigetsu followed him, never ceasing in his laughter.

. .

Sasuke was barely in the station when he heard his cousin roaring with laughter. He looked over at Shisui and his brother who was biting his lip, the corners of his lips twitching upwards.

“Okay, what’s so━”

“Cuff…” Shisui gasped out, trying to contain his laughter, “oh, my god, cuff anyone today Sasuke?”

“What?”

“Just,” Shisui took a deep inhale and then exhaled out, giggling. “I would break you? Really?”

Sasuke whipped his head behind him to confront Suigetsu, but his partner was nowhere in sight. He was smart enough to get as much distance as possible from the cousins.

“You weren’t supposed to hear about that,” Sasuke hissed. “Who else knows?”

At that moment, the police chief━Fugaku Uchiha, his father━stepped out of the elevator and walked by the group of desks. He stopped right in front of Sasuke and shook his head before continuing on.

“You told dad,” Sasuke muttered, mortified. Itachi placed a hand on his shoulder in what was supposed to be sympathy, but a chuckle escaped his mouth ruining the effect. “I swear to God, none of you ever let me live.”

. .

It was hours later and Sakura was still sitting curled up on her couch with her hood over her head, the strings pulled tight as she tried to hide from the world.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Ino teased her from their kitchen. “I could have told you to say something worse.”

“I’m never making anymore bets with you again!”

“I think it’s the best thing that’s ever happened. I’m still dying at what he said.” Ino paused in her chopping as her entire frame shook from repressed laughter. “I bet he calls soon.”

Letting go of her hood strings and shaking her hood off of her head, Sakura narrowed her eyes at her best friend.

“What do you mean you bet he calls soon?”

[dimancheetoile]

How about F and H for the fanfic ask meme?

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

This comes from wake up (this is my promise to you) a Naruto x FMA crossover where Sakura and Sasuke go through the Gate on accident and end up in Amestris, Sakura disoriented and Sasuke in a coma. Sakura eventually finds Ishval and joins the Ishvalan during the war against Amestris. (it’s not sasusaku, btw)

“Major Elric tells me you joined the army but you don’t know the name of your rank. Is that correct?”

“Accent is shit, but you speak good,” Sakura says, almost impressed. “Yes, correct.”

“Tell me of your responsibilities, then.”

“Uh. I lead squad, give orders. Chief of doctors too. My teacher is Führer.”

“How— how many people is that, roughly?”

“Two, uh, hundreds? Yes. Platoon is two hundreds.”

“Roy, that’s at least Major General,” Hughes says quietly. “This is way above our heads.”

“Let me worry about that,” he replies in kind. Then, in Ishvalan. “You are of higher ranks than I am. Do you want to find someone closer to discuss terms with?”

“No, you are good. The child tell me I need to become soldier for peace.”

The Lieutenant cringes. “Yes, the Führer—“

“Where I sign?”

Ed looks away from his glass, staring at the warrior whose face is completely serious. Mustang still has his mouth open, frowning slightly like he’s not sure about what he just heard. Even Hughes is cautious.

“You really have no problem with joining the military?”

She shakes her head. “You not understand. This is war. You are monsters, kill my people. I need to join for you stop killing my people? I join. Is really simple.” One hand comes up to scratch at her head scarf, but her eyes don’t leave Mustang for a second. “You make no mistake. I hate you all. You kill sweet Rani. You destroy Ishval.”

Then she leans forward, towering over Mustang. He doesn’t take a step back, but his hands are shaking. “I join your fucking military. I play nice. But no mistake me. I will destroy you from inside. And the day I am close to your leaders? I swear on shinigami I kill them all.”

She licks her lips, her eyes wide and face frozen as she watches Mustang flinch.

“Now, Lieutenant-Colonel. Where I sign?”

I know it’s a little more than a snippet but you need the context to understand why I love the end of that dialogue so much. I like how I managed to convey Sakura’s accent when she speaks Ishvalan, and how it doesn’t matter here because the strength, and threat, dripping from her words transcend the language barrier. I’m proud that this dialogue is the peak of tension in the scene, and that it sets the tone for the rest of the story. So yeah, probably one of the scenes I’m the most proud of.

H: How would you describe your style?

That question is terrible. I hate you. My style is painful poetic-prose. I want my stories to sound like poems that don’t rhyme, but still sound like poems, and I want my words to hurt. I do my best to translate all of that in the way I write scenes, focusing more on body-language than dialogue. The dialogue/description ration in my story is heavily unbalanced, I can go five pages without a single line of dialogue and struggle to write something that sounds even vaguely human. I paint with words, I don’t write people talking. Dunno if that qualifies as a style.

Thank you for asking!!! Those questions are so interesting, so if anyone has any more, they’re more than welcome to ask them.

FANFIC ASK GAME